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I’m one of those 40 million customers who had their bank card and PIN stolen while shopping at Target, one of America’s largest chains of general super-stores. Like most of the affected consumers, I first heard about the breach from my bank, another large network known as Chase. In a very frank…
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is often underutilized in many companies. The key is to catch failures before they happen, thus reducing costs in the long run. Reducing costs while keeping quality up is an indicator for success in this global economy.
Companies use FMEA for a variety of…
I remember all too well the “quality circles will solve everything” craze during the 1980s, which died a miserable death. During this time I was exposed to Joseph Juran’s wisdom about quality circles from his outstanding Juran on Quality Improvement video series from the 1970s. He was adamant:…
O ne reason why ISO’s management standards are so highly regarded is that in order to claim ongoing certification, organizations must be audited continually to ensure they still meet the requirements of their chosen standard. This independent verification gives clients and other stakeholders the…
(Hexagon Metrology: North Kingstown, R) -- Hexagon Metrology will co-host a HxGN LIVE on Location workshop with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The workshop, titled “Metrology Solutions for Aerospace Applications,” will focus on the use of metrology to address typical…
Let’s take a look at takt time and cycle time in the enterprise resource planning software, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Elsewhere I’ve noted the common misunderstanding in lean terminology between takt time and cycle time. At first it seemed confusing in AX as well. Hopefully, this can bring some…
For the past couple weeks, I’ve been digging into employee handbooks because a startup I’m involved with has grown to the point of needing one. Few perhaps realize how that document, usually given to you on your first day and then mostly forgotten, shapes culture and thereby fundamental…
‘Those people in IT, I don’t know why we have them around.” Richard, a department head for a major healthcare firm, stared at me across the table. “They have projects that are six months late! Projects they told us would take only a few months to do! We’d be better off if we just outsourced the…
How materials are transported throughout a production system can affect not only a company’s lean implementation but also on product quality itself. In many industries the material handling system helps ensure that part damage—cosmetic or functional—doesn’t occur while a part or subassembly makes…
In many ways, supply chain management (SCM) systems close the loop on quality management processes. By including SCM integration in your quality management software stack, your company can tie product life-cycle management (PLM) systems together with manufacturing operations management (MOM)…
There’s been a noticeable shift during the past five years in how the quality software market is perceived. The definition of what Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS) encompasses has shifted, and the benefits of creating a closed-loop quality environment have been validated.
For those…
In 1966, a freshman at a college in Maine attended a speech given by Floyd McKissick, newly appointed head of the Congress of Racial Equality, better known as CORE. In the packed auditorium there were no more than a half-dozen African-Americans that came to hear the “radical” new leader whose…
After so many decades of quality assessment, process-improvement initiation, statistical analysis, and general discussion, one would think the question, “What is quality?” has been answered and closed. One would be wrong.
When defining quality...
There is certainly no shortage of material and…
Organizations today operate at speeds faster than ever before, and small to midsized businesses (SMEs) are no exception. Software solutions for quality management systems (QMS) are all too often overlooked by owners and managers of SMEs due to preconceptions about cost and ROI.
The fact is,…
This past November, three winners of the 2013 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality awards were announced, one in education and two in healthcare. Quality Digest Daily is fortunate that one of the winners, Sutter Davis Hospital (SDH) is practically in our back yard. This gave us an opportunity to meet…
I had the opportunity to speak with a great group of students from the New Jersey Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology—a summer program for high-achieving high school students. Students in the program complete a set of challenging courses while working in small groups on real-world…
“Business and human endeavors are systems... we tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts of the system, and wonder why our deepest problems never get solved.”—Peter Senge
Senge had it right. I have never, ever seen a systemic issue truly resolved with an isolated, tactical solution. Every year…
It was Mark Twain who said, “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” This has become my favorite saying, both with regards to customer experience and to life in general.
I’ve used this quote recently with my kids, and it's an important code to live by. It speaks to honesty,…
The results are in for the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. The overall survey results are not surprising based on history, the current environment, and where many organizations—both government and business—have been challenged during recent years in the area of workforce…
Editor’s note: Here’s part one.
Sound quality management systems touch every level of your organization, from conception to post-market monitoring. Not surprisingly, manufacturing operations management (MOM) systems benefit from quality management system (QMS) integration. In an ideal scenario,…
Let’s start with what most everyone agrees on: The Unique Device Identification (UDI) program is a swell idea. It gets a little trickier after that.
In extensive comments, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), Boston Scientific, and Merck, among more than a dozen other…
Leadership is inherently about communication. Your ability to communicate well with your team, your boss, your co-workers, and anyone else around you can make or break your career as a leader.
Given the importance we place on communications, it always helps to have a few tools and techniques that…
A few months ago, my family received a personal reminder of the importance of quality in the skilled-nursing profession. It was delivered as my elderly father was transitioning from a hospital to a nursing home.
With the advancement of his dementia and a few other vexing conditions, my father’s…
In all likelihood, your company has already encountered difficulties harmonizing quality management systems (QMS) with product life cycle management (PLM) systems. Synergies between engineering, manufacturing, supply chain management, and service will not materialize on their own—even in a closed-…
Editor’s note: Read part one here.
Both management system consultants and auditors face a dilemma when they analyze, at least technically, companies’ organizational charts. It’s not only in small or medium-size companies that managers wear more than one hat, making it difficult for auditors to…